New equipment coming to West Chester park

WEST CHESTER – New water spray equipment at John O. Green Park will be marked with a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, July 2 at 4 p.m.

Borough officials along with state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th of West Whiteland, will join with others to celebrate the park’s addition.

“As temperatures rise, local children are already taking advantage of this new equipment,” Dinniman said. “It is a great addition to the park, and we worked hard with the borough to ensure that it was installed and working in time for summer.”

Funding for the new equipment was donated this year by Aqua America as a gesture to the community for the July 2008 accident in which a gas main was ruptured by a crew working in the 100 block of Miner Street. Dinniman and borough officials worked extensively with Aqua America to see that some benefit to the local community came out of that event. The new equipment, which local children are already beginning to enjoy, is the result of numerous meetings and negotiations.

John O. Green Park, named for a former borough police chief, is located on the corner of East Miner and South Matlack Streets.

The borough purchased the land for $1 from Philadelphia Electric Company on May 8, 1998. The land is approximately 23,000-square-feet. It is a “pocket park,” a small paved area in a neighborhood where small children had no other place to play except the sidewalk and street.

According to the borough, once purchased, it was classified as a brown field or one which pollution and toxins have entered the ground. Years ago, a coal gasification plant occupied the area and the hydrocarbons from that operation filled the soils. The borough had the land cleaned and freed of toxins for the establishment of a park.

The park is the newest park in the borough and has the most modern equipment of all its parks.

Phase two of the park opened in 2007.

The event is open to the public. The ribbon cutting will take place at 4 p.m. and light refreshments will be offered afterwards.